This past Monday evening, the Ricmotech Sportscar Series arrived at Mount Panorama in Bathurst, Australia for the fourth round of the season. The event started off with difficulty in qualifying, as a couple of drivers worked to insert themselves in the team's draft - as a result none of the D2D drivers were able to crack the top 5 in qualifying, with Chris Thorman being the highest starter in P6. He was followed by David Paton in P7, Jim List in P8, while Bobby Childs and Eric Violett were held out of the top ten in P11 and P13, respectively.
As the race got under way, the field quickly split into three packs. As drivers around Chris, David, and Jim jostled for position their pack lost the draft of the top 4; Bobby and Eric were split off from the second pack when another driver blew his engine with a missed shift into The Chase. On the next lap, Bobby saw a spider on the wall in Griffin's Bend and decided to kill it with his fender, which left him unable to help push Eric in the draft to get back to the second pack due to the massive aerodynamic drag caused by the spider's body stubbornly clinging to the fender.
As the race wore on, Chris and David asserted themselves at the front of the second pack along with Jim - who unfortunately had a few more issues with traffic, and ended up P15 after an early exit. Eric and Bobby separated themselves from the third pack and steadily moved up the order as pit stops took place and other drivers encountered issues. At the end of the event though, an exuberant Chris Thorman was thrilled to not only be the top finishing D2D driver in P4 but to have his best ever finish in the series*. He showed tenacity, patience, and skill on his way to the personal victory and the team is as thrilled as they can be for this milestone.
Great job, Chris!
* Chris previously scored a top 5 in an event where most of the competitors were taken out in a crash right at the start of the race. This is his best finish in an event with this level of competition.
